Defining the Sprawl Phenomenon in Metropolitan Areas Case study: Shiraz Metropolitan Area

The phenomenon of sprawl, physical development with low population density, unplanned and scattered which through unlimited expansion in the neighboring areas are mostly determined as the natural value of the city and In recent years, it has changed to one of the main challenges of the spatial development of the cities through out the world. In this respect, the present research with the purpose of planning for dealing with sprawl phenomenon in the metropolitan area of ​​Shiraz, intends through identifying the effective drivers to propose a comprehensive and integrated framework . The main selected method of this study which is considered as explanative research type is intended to identify the effective causal relationships on the occurrence of sprawl phenomenon are statistical method based on the path analysis together with spatial analysis methods including Holdern and ANN. The used data are of secondary type data and in a form of time series , in which some of the population and housing censuses of Iran Statistical Center and a part of comprehensive projects , urban community and Shiraz area have been used. Findings of the made analyses show that the rate of the occurred sprawl has a direct relationship with the distance from shiraz metropolitan. The study of the indices and drivers effective on the occurrence of sprawl phenomenon in Shiraz metropolitan area indicates that unlike the great number of the studied experiences, the factor of land per capita is not the main factor and " population growth" resulting from occupational chances, higher relative family income, development policies of low price housing around Shiraz metropolitan city in the form of various residential cities are considered as the main factors. Also the attraction of creative population due to the development of knowledge based economy and also progress of information and communication Technology infrastructures strategy has had a diverse effect on the occurrence of sprawl phenomenon. Urban development based on automobile has also intensified this phenomenon through excitation of urban dispersion in valuable natural and rural areas. Based on the final recommendations of this article regarding facing with sprawl phenomenon, unilateral dependence on common strategies like building density and infill development plan and consequently decreasing the land use per capita are not lonely effective, but considering the role of identified factors in programming priorities and resources allocation simultaneously with respect to the established casual relationship between them is necessary.